But then, what is Art?
by LeDiz
Summary: Yuugi is not beautiful, but Atemu finds him stunning. Introspection and distraction.


_**#71 – Divine Image**_

**DISCLAIMER**: As part of These Things We Do (and a distraction from the longer story I'm writing at the moment), we get a slightly more thoughtful piece. I so can't wait for the end of uni…

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There are many people in the world that never pause to look at the world around them; never think about those things they take for granted; never appreciate trees and air and oceans.

Atemu is usually one of those people. Usually, he only pauses to be disgusted by the change three thousand years has made to a world he once claimed as his own. He looks at the oil-black beaches and the concrete covered ground, breathes the fume-choked air and occasionally swims in water filled with chemicals and bile.

Rather than choose to notice these things he ignores them, and carries about his life without concern.

But sometimes he stops, and he stares, and falls in love.

He is not amazed by nature – it has been ruined by centuries of abuse. He is not awed by technology – it is only to be expected after centuries of evolution.

But sometimes, he will be stunned by his aibou.

Yuugi is nothing special, in the eyes of the world. He is small and childlike, with features that would make him a pretty girl but leave him utterly average as a boy. He is too short, too pale, too thin. He has no muscle tone and is his intellect is a low average. He is polite, modest and courteous. He is clever, much smarter than most, but what use is that when he has no confidence? He is nothing in the eyes of the world.

But Atemu has seen parts of him that no one else will ever know. Atemu is from a different world, and values different things. When he takes the time to appreciate this he looks at Yuugi and feels his breath shorten.

It will happen in the most mundane of moments. He will walk into a room and see Yuugi reading a book, his face soft and thoughtful, and he will be the most beautiful thing Atemu has ever seen. Yuugi will come running home from a great deal of exercise, his face bright red and sweaty, but his lips spread in a wide grin, and he will shine like a star. He will be working in the game shop, distracted and bored, and he will be nothing short of perfect.

Atemu has never grown accustomed to his aibou.

He has never grown used to the contradictions Yuugi embodies, the light and pure unlikeliness someone such as Yuugi could have been created and maintained in this world.

Late at night, when they are recovering from a physical connection, basking in afterglow and just smiling at one another, not tired enough for sleep, Atemu feels this the most.

He lies down beside him, sticky and hot, and just stares. Yuugi seems to positively glow when he feels loved, and contentment rolls off his aura in waves. Atemu can't help but feel a little stunned, his amazement made worse when Yuugi smiles at him, folding one arm behind his head with a shrug.

How is it something so mundane can be so beautiful?

Atemu lowers his gaze, searching for an explanation.

Yuugi is just as hot and sticky as himself, moisture coating his skin, flushed from exertion. But he is still pale… his skin has a slightly yellowish tinge from his national heritage, and the combination with the sweat should make him look sickly. He has burn scars on his chest, hips and legs, the once soft skin made all-too-smooth and tight. The blood does not cover it the same, so his torso is scratched with markings, small circles and lines of slight discolouration. They are neither handsome nor inviting. They are not even impressive, because the burns were shallow. They are simply there, a reminder of what Yuugi has gone through for the puzzle.

He is too thin; with his arm up, his ribs are obvious, and Atemu runs his fingers over them as he did only an hour before. It makes Yuugi giggle and squirm slightly, but all it takes is a soft, lingering kiss and the tickling sensation fails for the caress. There is a fault in the last of the ribs on his right side – a slight bump from a healed break long since forgotten.

His hands are small, his fingers a little too short like his grandfather's. He hates his hands, and tries to pull away when Atemu holds it up, but is held tight. The burn scars are worst here; an embedded scar runs across the right palm, following a link pattern from a burning chain he refused to release. The skin of his palms and fingers is plastic, but beside that one thicker line from the chain, the scar is barely noticeable due to the fact it covers the entire underside of both hands. Even his fingerprints were burnt off. So his hands are just small and stunted, too smooth with obviously medically crafted palm lines. Atemu presses his lips to the back of the hand before letting it go, and Yuugi hesitates before hiding it behind his head as well.

Yuugi's body is not beautiful. It is not even mediocre. It is battered, too small and thin and unfit. Compared with Atemu's own body—long, dark and lithe, his own scars from minor battles and accidents somehow making him more impressive—it is almost pathetic.

Atemu shifts up the bed, rolling over so he is leaning against Yuugi's side, and smirks at the playful chuckle the movement prompts from Yuugi. He walks his fingers up Yuugi's chest to curl around the back his neck and up into his hair, forcing them between Yuugi's own hand and head.

It has been a long time since Yuugi came to grips with the fact that he would never have his grandfather's strong jaw. While he inherited all Sugoroku's other qualities, Yuugi's face takes after his mother's and grandmother's. His jaw is round, leading onto cheeks that are too chubby for a boy constantly told by his doctor to gain weight. His lips are full and smooth, though currently bruised from actions Atemu once felt Yuugi was too experienced in. His nose is small, turned up just a little at the end. His eyes too large and rounded, the colour rare but not exotic and unnatural as Atemu's own colouring.

Yuugi's eyes provoke a strange reaction in many people. Some find them unnerving, the way they seem to naturally see through the masks people attempted to raise. Others find them adorable, worthy of anything they should ask. Most just find them confusing – the prettiest feature in a disturbingly feminine face.

Atemu can never decide how he feels about Yuugi's eyes.

The spiritual part of him—the part that takes the most control when he is challenged—believes eyes are the windows to the soul. He usually accepts this, but in Yuugi he finds he just cannot. He has seen and spent time within Yuugi's soul, and it is a bright place, filled with innocent toys and objects made for fun.

But Yuugi's eyes are too old, too tired and knowing to be like his soul. His soul is forever young and innocent, but Yuugi's heart is old and tired, well worn and misused.

Atemu feels important when he looks in Yuugi's eyes, because he sees that tired heart, and knows that he is the only one that does. He knows he is one of the few people that have ever really touched it; said the right words and done the right things to make it open up. He is possibly the only person who can help it.

Yuugi's heart is always large enough to care about one more person, but that makes it stretch too thin. Atemu knows he is quite possibly the only person who can heal it, reinforce it and make it strong enough for Yuugi to stop and think about himself as well.

It makes him feel important – but it terrifies him at the same time.

He knows he is not what Yuugi wanted from life. He knows—even though Yuugi denies it whenever he brings it up—that Yuugi wanted more. Yuugi wanted girlfriends and a maybe one day a wife and children. Yuugi wanted to go to university and learn, then travel the world, learning and doing more. Yuugi wanted to look in the mirror and see one whole man that was independent and great. But now Yuugi will never have any of these things. Yuugi will never have a girlfriend or a wife, and in the back of his mind, Atemu hates the idea of Yuugi's attention being driven further from him by children. University is still possible, but Yuugi dreamt of a larger, better university than Domino, which would mean he would have to leave Atemu behind, and that worries them both. Travel will happen, but he will do it with Atemu, on organised trips, expenses taken care of. There will be no real excitement.

Neither of them will ever be able to look in the mirror alone and see a whole man gazing back at them.

Usually, Atemu can ignore these things. Usually, he tells himself their life is perfect and that Yuugi is happy with him and that he will never ever want anything more.

But then he looks in Yuugi's eyes and sees his heart and he knows that's a lie. Unlike himself, Yuugi is a mortal human: he will always have and want his dreams. Then his choice is hard – let Yuugi go and allow him to do the things he wants to, or keep _him _trapped but his heart safe from harm.

So Atemu never knows how to feel about those big, beautiful eyes.

Yuugi is not good looking or handsome. There is nothing special about him – at best he is adorable, at worst a slightly strange-looking human. There is no sense in Atemu's breath being stolen by his appearance.

But then he thinks of the everything hidden in that shell, and suddenly he knows. Art is only great when seen by those who can appreciate it. The divine is only so to those that know.

He leans down, pulling Yuugi up into a long, lingering kiss that makes Yuugi moan in contentment. Then he curls up by Yuugi's side, smirking in quiet pride.

Yuugi is only mediocre to the blind.


End file.
